ResearchI study active earthquake and volcanic process through data collection, inversion, and theoretical modeling. Using techniques such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) my students and I are able to measure deformation in space and time and invert these data for the geometry of faults and magma chambers, and spatiotemporal variations in fault slip-rate and magma chamber dilation. We use these results to develop and test models of active plate boundaries such as the San Andreas, and the Cascade subduction zone, the nucleation of earthquakes, slow slip events, and the physics of magma migration leading to volcanic eruptions.

TeachingI teach introductory undergraduate classes in natural hazards and the prediction of volcanic eruptions, as well as graduate level courses on modeling earthquake and volcano deformation and geophysical inverse theory.

The mechanics of unrest at Long Valley caldera, California. 2. Constraining the nature of the source using geodetic and micro-gravity dataJOURNAL OF VOLCANOLOGY AND GEOTHERMAL RESEARCHBattaglia, M., Segall, P., Roberts, C.2003; 127 (3-4): 219-245

When is the strain in the meter the same as the strain in the rock?GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERSSegall, P., Jonsson, S., Agustsson, K.2003; 30 (19)

COMPARISON OF VARIOUS INVERSION TECHNIQUES AS APPLIED TO THE DETERMINATION OF A GEOPHYSICAL DEFORMATION MODEL FOR THE 1983 BORAH PEAK EARTHQUAKEBULLETIN OF THE SEISMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICADu, Y. J., Aydin, A., Segall, P.1992; 82 (4): 1840-1866